Exploring Columbus (Great Man or Racist Oppressor?)

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | October 9, 2005 | Tom Purcell

[Windcatcher]

The double angle brackets you used to quote the article were likely interpreted by the site as HTML, and once it thinks you're using HTML it expects you to use "br" tags at paragraph ends and in line breaks (here I put double-quotes around the "br" instead of angle brackets so it wouldn't think I'm typing HTML).

When I quote an article, I usually put it in double quotes and use "i" and "/i" HTML tags to put it in italics (with the appropriate angle brackets, of course). It's a pain since it means that I have to use "br" tags at all paragraph endings and in line breaks, but that's where copy/paste comes in handy.

[Windcatcher]

"Leif Ericson discovered Newfoundland and possibly Cape Cod, Mass, at least 500 years before Columbus. I don't understand why we don't have a day honoring him."

Flippant answer: F=ma

In other words, inertia, where m here is very large. It's a stupid reason, but it's why, IMHO.

[Tired of Taxes]

Why are you calling those people "trolls"?

[Tired of Taxes]

the facsist indian groups her ein denver, including ward churchill, did their best to threaten and intimidate the italians out of celebrating their heritage. in the end, though, the parade went off without a hitch.

My family is of Italian descent, and I have to say, even if the day were eliminated as a federal holiday, it would still be celebrated in those communities. Maybe we should eliminate it as a federal holiday, so those same people complaining won't also have a paid day-off to come and protest it. ;-)

But, to those who point to Columbus' flaws, the others had flaws, too. If you want to eliminate Columbus Day, you need to eliminate a lot of other federal holidays, too. To err is to be human, and they were all flawed. Gov't employees receive too much time off with pay, anyway.

[DumpsterDiver]

"Well, Columbus is also responsible for many germs and diseases that Europeans brought to America, causing untold suffering and death among the people who were here before us."

"That's right, children, Columbus invented germs and diseases, the most important one being smallpox."

And for those who need it... /sarc

[DMinus]

"Troll"

uh, why?

[Fred Hayek]

Tonight on WCCO-TV news (Minneapolis), there were some interviews with some grade school kids about Columbus. The kids have gotten their political indoctrination about Columbus being some kind of racist genocidal oppressor.

MY TAXES ARE PAYING FOR THIS < excrement >!

[04-Bravo]

Columbus' discovery of America is one of the most significant events in history. The knowledge he took back to Europe changed the world.

If nothing else, our Columbus Day holiday is a tribute to that historic event.